Several times a year we visit Wegmeyer Farms, a fantastic local pick-your-own farm, both for the fresh goodness of the fruit and for the family experience. The kids learn that food comes from the earth – and not just from a grocery store. They delight in finding the biggest, ripest berries (as well as their favorite “mutant” berries with lots of funny bumps), and we go home for a yummy homemade brunch (this time topped with strawberries!).
Here are a few pictures I snapped during our visit this year.
One of the things that made a huge impression on us compared to other u-pick farms we’ve frequented is how clean these fields are. Take a look at the rows and the paths in between. There are very few weeds and the paths are nice and clear. It’s super-duper easy to reach all of the strawberry plants without any trouble and find just the perfect berries!
When we first arrived we were greeted by the owner of the farm who gave us a bucket and assigned us a row. Visitors are given a specific row to pick where the owners know there are still ripe strawberries available (so there is no worry that you’ll be aimlessly going down a row that’s been picked clean by someone before you). When you are done picking you’re given a small red flag (see the center front of the photo above) to place in your row where you stopped. This way the next picker knows exactly where to start.
The owner then explained to the children exactly how to find the ripe strawberries. We wanted to look for those that didn’t have any yellow at all on them. Those would be the sweetest!
This one had just a tiny bit of yellow at the tip – but it was a “mutant.” The girls were thrilled to find the most unusual looking berries – constantly yelling out to one another with delight when they found a lumpy berry they thought was super cool!
Berries are $3.99 per pound. The great thing though is that, unlike at the supermarket, you can be sure that there are NO rotten berries in your pound! Don’t you just hate when you get home and have to trim away half the carton because they’re rotten? Not with u-pick! You get ALL that you pay for! And you know they’re fresh!
And… while I’m not a food photographer in the least… I did snap a quick picture of our brunch. It was perfect!
Check out some of my previous posts on Wegmeyer Farms from last year’s strawberry season, from 2010’s pumpkin picking, and from Raspberry Picking last summer!